Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-03-02
RELATING TO RAILWAYS.
state Commerce BnI--The santa Fe
Outlook Other Track Intelligence.


the inter state commerce law. The su-
perintendent said:
As to its exact intent and meaning you
would not expect me to elueidate its
exact import when the author, Senator
Cullom was unable to comply with this
request when asked to do so. 1t will,
without doubt, necessitate an entire re-
vision of tariff, both passenger and
freight, on every railway in the country.
The law, as yoL probably know. requires
the freight tariff from every station to
every other station on any line and It's
connections to be printed and posted at
each and every station. There is not
enough small plea in the United States to
print the revision of rates contemplated
II is simply impossible, and cannot be
complied with by the railways were they
ever so much inclined to do SO. Now the
law appropriates $100,0 600 for the stipu-
lated purpose of carrying its provisions
into effect, sum totally inadequate for
the purpose intended The commission
will require the services Of not less than
500 clerks, who, if competent. cannot be
SeEulEtt ipI ICES tndH AsVtp IdNA. bie
will involve an outlay of S500,0Oo IN adj
dition to the salaries of the commission
ers and the expense incident to carrying
the law into effect. You think 500 clerks
in excess of the number required, but
we'll see In the auditors office Of the
Rock Island in Chicago we utilize the
services of over one hundred clerks, and
none of them enjoy sinecures, but all
perform hard work If the business Of
one company alone involves this degree Of
labor, it appears reasonable 20 suppose
that the national railway commission.
having as it will. the business of every
railway system of the country IN charge,
will find it Incumbent TO employ not less
than five hundred clerks. Then. again,
the law directs that the revised tariffs
shall be published in book form ana sub
mltted to the commission for its Informs
ton. a volume of this character printed
in the most condensed form, would con-
stitute a book much larger than Webster 5
unabridged dictionary for each road.
The Rock Island alone touches over 400
stations, the tariff of which, in addition
10 all connecting points would be re-
quired in the tariff sheets. The Rock
Island, though an extensive railway, is a
very small proportion of the entire rail-
road system of the country, and If each
company furnishes the commission with
book of the size referred to, the capitol
building at Washington would prove
inadequate to provide room for their
storage In my humble opinion as a rail
way official, congress has jumped to Il
hasty conclusion and will be found in
the position of the poverty stricken
fellow who drew white elephant In a
lottery. However, so far as have been
able to asceI tain-and have ENJOYED the
opportunity during the past week OF
hearing expressions from the leading
railway officials of the CountrY-it is the
intention of these corporations to euN
deavor to the best of their knowledge
and ability to recOg0ize and strictly obey
the law"
How about the commissioners, Mr.
ROvce?"
The president, 10 my opinion. is neg
lecting an important duty ia deterrin2
the appointment of the commissioners
until the last moment. When appointed,
1t will require not less than thirty days
each for the individual commissioner To
close up their private business, cOntin
gencv which Contemplates the unwel-
come prospect that they will enter upon
their arduous and responsible duties
wholly uninformed They should be ap-
pointed at once and given time to exam~
inc and interpret the rather vague and in
tricaie provisions of the bill. Otherwise
the railroad authorities will find it in
cumbent upon them to explain aud fol
low such interpretations as may be sug-
gested to each company. In this event
most of the companies viii doubtless fall
into error and incur serious responsibility
in the absence of aHy definitely tormuiat-
ed policy from the commission.
How will this effect rates generally,
Mr.. Royce?'
II cannot state. but the result of ex>
perieDce suggests that it will induce the
lowering OF rates at some points and the
rising of the tariff at others | cannot
state that such revision will be favorable
10 DesMoines. though l do not desire to
be quoted as believing the change Will he
inimlcal TO DesMoines shippers.
THE SANTA FE AND ROCK ISLAND.
Some time ago the Chicago 7rij9E,
said the Santa Fe railroad WIS negOila-
ting for the purchase of the Central Iowa
railway from Peoria to St Paul. By the
acquisition of the Central the Santa Fe
would have d direct road TO St. Paul and
the Santa Fe folks want to tap Burlng>
ton, Muscatine and Rock Island, and
propose building line of road OF the
west side of the river from Keokuk to
Rock Island, via thsburg and the
Central The proposed line will inter-
sect the Central at Elrick, Iowa This
will give Burlington an Independent
short line to Chicago. II is stated now
on good authority thai the Santa Fe has
ordered survey Of line from heo-
kuk to Elrick by way Of Burlington with
view of locating line. There has
been rumor to the effect that the Santa
Fe would endeavor to enter Burlington
by this way, but this is the fist time any
thing definite in the shape of a report
has been heard
TRACK TALK.
In consequence of the promotion of
Christian Dahl to Mr.. J. W. Cavanaugh's
place, as stationary engineer at the c..
f. l. & P. round house. John Dolly is
elevated to Mr.. Dahl's former position,
and Ben Griifen enters the machine
shops as an apprentice.
1t has been rumored that Rock Island
was still hopeful of securing the c., r.
l. & P shops. 1t is true that an effort
is being made to purchase, for sum that